Unholy War
by Marie Douglas
Summary: Betrayal leads to massacre when one of the XMen's own leads them into turmoil. The XMen fight to save themselves and the world. But could this be the final time? [ROMY, JOTT, JONDA, KITOR] R&R please. Tis GOOD!
1. Chapter 1:Fridge Problems Lead Elsewhere

DISCLAIMER: ME NO OWN NO X-MEN! DONT HURT ME!

Intro: After Apocalypse. College ages. OC Summaries are in the prologue.

Rogue wandered around the mansion hoping to avoid Gambit and get something to eat, all in the same hour. A rather lofty goal in her opinion, considering that the swamp rat was a professional stalker, and southern kids always lingered around the kitchen.

She peeked into the large kitchen, quickly glancing around, looking for any sign of him. When she saw that the marble floored room was empty, she gave herself the all clear to walk inside.

This room held so many random memories for everyone. Like any southern girl, Rogue believed that food was the key to unity.

Popping open the refrigerator, she looked for something to drink. Her eyes, which had held a bit of light a moment ago, now fell into a sullen glare at the frost cover food. _Bobby._ She scoffed mentally._ Froze everythang. Again._

She bent over, hoping to find that the Iceman's wrath hadn't spread to the rest of the refrigerator's contents. Pushing past the frozen peas and carrots she realized that he had indeed put everything in there on a chill.

Closing the door, she turned around to see a pair of glowing red eyes staring at her. She narrowed her own at him, sending the malicious glare that she had mastered so well. "S'cuse me, _chere_," he said, pushing past her.

She didn't leave. But she knew that she sure as hell didn't want to be staying. His temper was always affected by food. "Oh,_ mon Dieu_. Crap!" He slammed the door, giving a distinct slap of rubber sealing to fill the room. _Ya really are a horrible person, girl._ She thought to herself.

"Somethin' wrong, Cajun?" She asked, feigning innocence as best she could.

"Y'know full well what's wrong. De damn Popsicle froze ev'ryt'in in here."

She could hear the pout that wanted to come through his tough façade. "Well, Cajun, go buy somethin'." She leaned against the door jamb and faced him. "It's only eleven thirty. I'm sure somethin's open."

The look on his face was utterly priceless. Very rarely did anyone ask the Prince of Thieves to do his own shopping and it showed by the blatant shocked the flashed on his features.

"Rogue, could ya do us all a favor and move? I'm hungry," said a feminine voice with a light British accent from behind her.

Rogue stepped inot the kitchen and hopped up on a counter as Remy made for the door. She could see the obvious hunch in his shoulders as a sign of defeat.

Aura Southern walked into the room carrying an air of attitude about her. "What's wrong with you?" She asked Gambit as he passed her. "No food, _cherie._ All de good stuffs frozen."

"What?!" Rogue swore she saw feathers shoot out from the girl's fine white wings as she screamed. "No. Bloody. Food?! Well, I need to eat dammit! You there," she said pointing at Gambit. "Go and buy some!"

"What?! Why Remy got t'go?! S'not my job!!"

"Well, Swamp Rat, if ya wanna eat, ya gunna have ta." Rogue said, smirking from her perch.

She felt triumphant, victorious, she could hear the high-angelic choir trumpeting her superiority. And all because she didn't have to drive.

"What the hell is going on in here?" A gruff voice came from the door.

"Oh..uh…hey there, Logan." Aura said with a squeak.

"Jus' be wantin' some food. De Iceman from ev'ry't'in in dere. Was just about t'take d'ese two lovely ladies shopping fo' some mo'." Gambit let his gaze slink over to the corner where the two girls had placed themselves.

"That the truth?" Wolverine asked with examining eyes.

"Yes, sir." Yet another voice chimed in. Jake Jirrato walked into the kitchen that seemed to be getting smaller by the minute. "I heard every word."

"Suck up." Rogue muttered from under her breath. Only to be followed by a not-so-subtle "Suck on Logan," from Aura.

Logan chose to ignore the comment. "Well. Take Jake with ya, Gumbo."

Rogue's eyes widened. This was going to be one long trip.

gets betterer i swear! GO TO NEXT CHAPPIE!


	2. Chapter 2: The Long Drive There

DISCLAIMER: ME NO OWN NO X-MEN! DONT HURT ME!

:D Next chapter away!

Gambit pressed the gas pedal to the floor and sent the car flying along a deserted country road. If they were any closer to the city, they could have easily found a place that was open at midnight. But no, Xavier's was located in a strategic close-enough-to-the-middle-of-nowhere position that no local store was open.

"Why'd y'feel the need t'go an' send me out here, _Roguey_?" He asked as his eyes were glues to the road.

"Well, I could ask _you_ the same thang, _Swamp Rat_."

Rogue pouted in the front seat. She'd been so close to winning her battle for food, dammit. Then that stupid Cajun had to go and shoot off his fat mouth.

"Hey now,_ chere_, y'put yaself in that situation. Y'didn't need be wolunteerin' Remy fo' dis gig. He coulda gone wit'out' de food." He pulled into the parking lot of a convenient store and went up to the doors. Only to find them locked.

Getting back in the care, he sighed. "Well, as least it be a nice night fo' a drive, _non_?"

Starting up the engine, Aura stirred in the back seat. "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout, Aura?"

The angel, who was known around her friends as the rather looney ne, hadn't said a peep the whole drive.

"Nothin'. I….I just have this feeling that…that somethin' bad's about to happen."

"Oh, nonsense,_ petite_, s'nearly midnight an' we haven't been called int' de lin o' fire yet, have we?"

Gambit said as he took his eyes off the road to look back at her. "GAMBIT!" Rogue screamed. The jolting of the car as Remy turned the wheel violently to avoid the falling tree limbs woke Jake. The brakes squealed as they came to a rapid halt.

"What's going on? What the heel was that?!" he asked as they skidded to a stop where the road side met open field.

"Don't got no clue,_ homme._" Gambit said as he checked his rear view mirror, and then his head for any bumps and bruises.

"Aura.." Jake's sentence was cut off as he noticed the splatters of blood on the window. "Oh God, Remy, c'mere and help me!" He said, hands fidgeting around her.

"She'll be fine! Right now, we got a bigger problem." Remy stepped out of the mustang and saw the one thing that had topped off his bad night.

Rogue was laying in the middle of the road, unconscious, and being crushed by a massive tree limb. "How did she get out of the car?!" Jake asked as they sprinted towards her.

They began straining to lift the large arm of the tree off of Rogue. Gambit could feel it moving. The satisfying release of pressure as they pushed hard against it. "ARGH!" They both grunted as they lifted the log just enough that , with the log braced on Jake's large shoulders, Gambit swooped down and pulled Rogue out from under the crushing force.

"Rogue, Rogue?! Can y'hear me, _chere?_" He shook her by the shoulders in an effort to try and wake her. "Rogue?!"

He didn't know what to do. It wasn't as though he could perform CPR on a girl whose skin could kill him. There would be no benefit for anyone.

"What do we do?!" Jake asked panicked.

"I don' know!"

"We can't touch her!"

"I KNOW!"

"Move over." Aura said weakly. "I'm the only one who can bloody touch her." Aura pushed Gambit over to make way for her wing span. She checked Rogue's heartbeat and started to pump her hands up and down on the girl's chest.

After fifteen stressful pushes, she bent her head and pressed her mouth on Rogue's.

She could feel herself being absorbed. It was such a strange sensation. She felt her energy being sucked from her and then replaced by her own healing factor. Aura had never before though of what it would feel like to be absorbed. But now that she had she realized the complete danger of it. Rogue would wake up, knowing everything that she had ever been through. And for a girl who prided herself on distance and a life shrouded in mystery, it was a big step to let someone know everything that Sinister had done.

As Rogue absorbed her Class A healing factor, fixing the breaks and tears of her organs and bones. Aura struggled to keep a conscious focus on her task.

Rogue regained her sense of the world around her as Aura bent her head to give her one last breath. Rogue's eyes went wide as she wiggled out from underneath Aura's hands. "Aura...were ya just _kissin'_ me?" She said with a stuttered look around at her fellow X-Men.

"No," She said slowly. "I was performin' C.P.R." Aura was talking in a hushed tone, as though something was wrong.

Rogue took a moment to recall all of the events that had lead up to this point, where she sat on the muddy road, tasting blood and head pounding.

She remembered screaming out to Gambit as the trees began to fall. As he slammed onto the brakes, Rogue had jerked forward in her seat and was pinned against the door. The extreme turn was enough to give her the momentum to open the already faulty door with her body and then tumble onto the pavement. She remembered hearing a slight creaking…and then the world had gone black.

There was no doubt that it was Aura's healing factor and her own powers that had saved her from what would have surely been a deadly fate. The amount of internal damage that would have been caused by that one branch crushing her into the ground was enough to kill Scott, who was quite a bit larger than she was.

_I was done for._ The tree had dealt her a deadly blow, but the images that were racing through her head now were even more painful.

Syringes and blood, razors and needles. Everywhere she turned she could see the lab of a madman and the arms of a young girl reaching out to him in pain. Screaming for her daddy. Rogue shook her head to regain her attention on the task at hand.

"Is everyone else alright?" She asked, looking at Jake, then Gambit. "Oh my god. You're bleedin', Remy." She lifted a concerned gloved hand to the blood that rested on his arm, and soaked the sleeve of his sweatshirt.

"S'not'in, _mon amour_."

Rogue looked up at him with shocked eyes. He had just spoken the words "my love" while referring to her.

Aura and Jake glanced back and forth from Rogue to Gambit. The two were sharing mildly alarmed looks. Gambit's eyes read as though he had just spilled some massive sack of beans and Rogue's as though her ears were just being burnt off by acid.

"Uh…Remy? We might wanna get ya stitched up." Jake said, inner city accent adding to the flavor of the moment.

"Yeah, dat be best." Replied Gambit without taking his eyes off of Rogue.

The uncomfortable girl was the one to look away first. She knew that she'd found false meaning in the words, that she had simply heard wrong. But he was staring at her with such shocked intensity that she had almost begun to believe him. And had to look away.

"Alrighty, every body in the car. I saw an open late drug store. They're bound to have some first aid supplies." Aura said, pushing herself off of the pavement.

NEXT CHAPTER!!!! PLEASE!!!


	3. Chapter 3: Sitches and Bruises

DISCLAIMER: ME NO OWN NO X-MEN! DONT HURT ME!

Rogue got into the store before the other three. She had always been independent but Aura had never known her to go off alone with friends so close by.

"Rogue!" she called, hoping she would slow her pace. When she didn't Aura realized that something was very wrong. She caught Rogue by the shoulder as she finished her brief jog up the toy isle.

"Rogue, what's wrong?"

"Nothin'." She replied as she turned away again.

"Oh please. I know you. Something is wrong."

Rogue paused. Aura saw the distant gaze that was captivated by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure in front of her, and saw that Rogue's mind was clearly someplace else. "Why didn't ya ever tell me what happened to ya?"

"What do you mean, love?" she asked affectionately avoiding the question.

Rogue glanced up at her briefly, then turned and started shopping. "I saw what he did to you. I felt every pierce. I could smell the blood, Aura. You were in so much pain."

Aura walked beside her unashamed and met her gaze. "I did what I felt was best." She said, eyes glued to Rogues, knowing that the pale Southern belle would understand.

Rogue nodded and decided that it would be best to drop the subject. She stopped short as she came across that MARVEL display.

"Oh. My. God." She saw action figures with bugling muscles, tiny wastes, and plump busts. "Why do they insist on mutilating heroes that way?"

"Dunno. Hey, Roguey, can I ask ya a question?"

Rogue turned away and braced herself for the worst. "Yeah, sure." She feigned interest in a Furby display.

"What's the deal with you and Remy?"

Rogue felt the color in her face drain at the recollection of the embarrassing moment just minutes before. "What do you mean?"

"Well, half the time he's flirtin' and you're fighting. The other half you're just plain fighting."

"Psh, ain't my fault he can't hold his own mouth shut for more than ten minutes. And it ain't my fault that he makes a great target for physical stress relief." Rogue said.

Under standing that Aura had referred to the fact that Rogue had come to blows with him on more than one occasion and that she was a constant smart ass towards him.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it, you poo." Aura had stopped her, a wall between the first aid kit on the shelf that she had come to find so interesting and her sanity.

In truth, she had no clue how she really felt about Remy. One minute he _would_ be flirting and then the next she would be fighting. "Just can't stand the guy. He likes ta see gals as nothin' more than a piece o' mean. And himself as the wolf that gets the spoils. If ya ask me, the swamp rat needs to be taught a lesson on how to treat women." It wasn't a total lie.

Aura made a slight sighing come from the back of her throat and left Rogue to pay for the kit. Beautiful girls with angel wings weren't exactly low profile.

Once she was back at the parking lot, she told Remy to take off his shirt. "Well now, ain't we egar, neh?"

"Cajun, unless ya want a quick nipple piercin' with this here needle, I suggest ya do it and keep quiet about it.

Remy chuckled as he pulled the long sleeved maroon shirt up and over his head. Rogue looked over to the deep gash that lay across his right arm. It was a lucky hunch that she threaten him with the needle that came in the kit, considering that he would need a few stitches.

"Got any booze in this heap?" She asked, motioning to the Mustang with a few new scratches on it.

"Why, _chere_, y'offend Remy, havin' t'ask," He reached back and pulled out a bottle of Jack Danile's. "Whatcha be needin' it fo'?"

"It ain't me. Do ya _like_ the pain of piercin's?"

"_Non_. But Remy can take it. 'Sides, he need t'drive."

"_I_ can drive, ya think headed Swamp Rat."

"Not while y'be concussed."

"Fine. Then Aura will."

"Can de pigeon drive stick?" Rogue stared up at him defiantly. _No. But I can, ya moron._

"Didn't t'ink so."

Rogue had threaded the needle and violently shoved it through the tender flesh of his arm.

The loud yelp of pain that resounded through the parking lot was enough to satisfy her anger. "Why, y'little witch. Tryin' t'use Remy as a voodoo dol?!" He started to chuckle as Rogue glared up at him through a curtain of snow white hair. "Do it 'gain. I _dare_ y'."

She swore that she could see fangs grow and his eyes glow red. Well one of the traits was from her slight concussion, and the other was from his cheap little apathy trick. She looked back down at her needle and thread, pulled taught to the side of the wound. Smiling evilly to herself, she pushed the pointed end back through the other side of his flesh, just a hard.

There was no loud yelp this time, however, Fambit sprung up and pinned her to the pavement.

"_Chere_, y'be cruisin' for' a fight." Rogue's eyes opened wider as she saw his own glow redder.

"You. Dirty. Bastard." She said as she pushed him off of her. "Tryin' to get me to- UGH! I can't believe ya! Remy LeBeau, w've been over this. There ain't _nothin'_ happenin' between us any time in the next fifty years. Get over the fact that I ain't gonna be another name in your little black book."

She brushed herself off and picked up the needle that head fallen away fro its thread. Shoving it at Aura who sat on the hood of the car, she said, "Here. Jake can do it. I'm goin' home."

"Rogue, you know that you can't walk home after what just happened!" Rogue stopped dead in her tracks. "Hey. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

Rogue knew that if anyone was stupid enough to mess with her with her anger at this level, they would have to be dragged out of the fight in a body bag.

"Rogue, you know I don't like needles!!" Aura said shakily.

"Have Sparkles do it!"

"He doesn't have a clue what he's doing!!"

"That's the point!" She said as she walked away.

NEXT CHAPTER GETS BETTER! DERES ROMY IN IT I SWEAR!


	4. Chapter 4: The Long Walk Home

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE X-MEN!

Remy rubbed his sore arm as he drove. He damned the glass that hap put him through more pain than it was worth.

"Ya feelin' okay, Remy?" Aura asked.

"Just peachy." He snarled.

"Should Rogue be afraid?" _Not like Remy could ever really hurt her_. Aura thought, rolling her eyes.

"_Tres oui, mon ami._"

The girl had insulted his integrity, then proceeded to pierce him. Multiple times. Yes. Remy was lobster boiling mad. "Can't believe she did that, just walked off." Jake said from the passenger seat.

"Why?" It's a very Rogue thing to do. 'Sides, better for her to walk it off than kick that crippled Cajun when he's down."

Remy glared at her through the rearview mirror. "Right here, y'know."

"Still though, she knows how much you ate needles. Kinda bitchy of her to leave ya sitting there with one staring you in the face, neh?"

Aura fell silent, trying to figure out how to tell Jake that it wasn't really _that_ bad. She was able to downplay it because she knew what Rogue was going through.

The southern girl had never felt respected or loved in her life. And the one man that she was warming up to, other than Logan, had made it seem like he was trying to seduce and use her more than anyone ever had before.

"It's fine. Rogue's been having a worse day than I was. I get how she's feelin'."

"Like she wants t'kill de world?" Remy said with obvious sarcastic venom.

"No, Remy, just you."

A shiver of shock went down Gambit's spine. It wasn't the best feeling to know that the girl he swore he was falling in love with was wanting to kill him for his own stupidity. "Sometimes your to dense for your own good, Gambit. If you claim to be an empathy, you could at least have some idea of how she feels about you." Jake said.

He didn't need any special powers to see that Rogue was smitten with the jackass. And for some reason that made him want to punch Gambit. No, he knew that he wasn't in love with Rogue. He knew that there was no romantic feeling between them, however, she was like a sister to him at times and she had saved his ass more than once. He wanted to protect her from being tortured even more than she already had. But the Cajun was making that extremely hard to do.

"Yeah, she ain't too fond o'dis Cajun." He said, accelerating out of a turn. They were topping the hill that would let them overlook the mansion on the other side.

"Psh. Oh please. That's a lie and you know it. You know she's afraid of how she feels. She's a little _too_ fond of you by her standards. You're the thing t hat makes her start to wish she were normal so that she wouldn't have to pose the risk of hurting you. You're what makes her wish she was touchable."

"_Non_, dat ain't Remy dat be makin' her feel dat way. Dat would b'life itself."

Rogue had suffered through the cold for a solitary walk home.

She didn't mind having to be alone. She was used to it.

Gambit didn't know how badly he had pissed her off. And he never would. No one, for that matter, would. After Rogue's long and hard battle with herself, her psyches, and her life, she had learned to keep control of her emotions even more so than before she had come to Xavier's. When she let go, released the reins, she was forced into a painful oblivion of confusion and heartache.

She knew that the intricate mental tap box for her psyches was well worth having to bite her naturally smart tongue. It saved her the pain of having the psyches try to bite back and her dealing with the mother of all headaches.

She knew that even though she'd left earlier, it was very possible that the others were already at home.

She was only about a mile away when the horrid stench of brimstone, hellfire, and smoke burned her nostrils.

She started to walk faster, recognizing the smells as something that Kurt produced when he bamfed. She felt that something was amiss. Then, rounding the winding road, she broke out into a full out sprint as she hit the quarter mile mark. Seeing the fire and hearing the screams.


	5. Chapter 5: Fire and Brimstone

Thanks to all of you who reviewed! I 3's y'all:D

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE X-MEN**

Jake awoke to blackness. He couldn't remember where he was or what happened to bring him there. He heard the screams and moans of pain. Then it all came back to him.

_"Gambit, something's wrong," He said as Gambit made a motion to open the door that connected the garage to the house. _

_"What is it, Jake?" Aura asked. _

"_I-I dunno. Soemthin…..it's the others. They're in bad trouble." _

_'What kinda trouble, Jake?" Remy asked, casting a suspicious glance towards the door. _

_"There's…There's an attack. Legion? Is that…it?" The young blonde boy grew quite. _

_"WHAT?! LEGION?!" Aura shouted, her gaze flickering to the door handle. _

_Jake's eyes met Gambit's with fear in them. Fear for his team mates. Fear for the students. Fear for themselves. _

_"They're killing people. They've got a bomb."_

_He could remember Gambit charging cards as he opened the door. Then.._

_The world had gone black. _

"Oh my god! JAKE?!" He heard Rogue's voice from a far. "Spark, are ya alright?" her voice sounded panicked and distant. Jake couldn't pinpoint the sound as he pushed what felt to be a wall from on top of him.

He sat up, pressing gingerly on his wrist. _Well that's gonna be sore for a few weeks._ He let out a couch before saying her name. "I'm fine I think." Rogue offered a gloved hand to help him up. He used his own functioning one to pull on it.

"What the hell happened here?" She looked out of breath.

"Bomb. New people that hate us. They call 'emselves 'Legion'. Apparently they're serious."

"Apparently." Rogue said, helping him gingerly step to his feet and get his balance. . "Where's Gambit and Ashen?" They both noticed the way that they were slipping into a combative mode. One where code names and uniforms were always a source of familiar comfort.

"I dunno." Jake glanced around the destroyed garage. He had a good idea of where he was standing and, judging by his bearings, he pointed to a pile of rubble where Remy might lay, with Ashen near by. "We were over there. Gambit was charging cards, and Ashen looked like she was about to die from the blood rushing out of her face. She was so pale….then. I guess the bomb went off."

"Can ya help me find em?"

"Yeah, just don't expect me to move like Pietro. I could never do that when I wasn't banged up." It wasn't his power, but the joke fit. It was so rare that Jake had his psychic surges, a gift from his mother's side of the family, that the last one had felt awkward. Almost painful. Jake recalled the feeling of someone prying into his head and planting the surge there. He felt the electricity gathering in his hands and the thought of someone invading his very personal space, his mind. It was an evil thing to rape another persons psyche, and eviler to do it with such malice and irony. He could nearly hear his uncle's voice yelling at him. "You'll never be as good as Pietro. Your powers are weak!" The painful banishment that he faced even before his initiation to the Brotherhood. "Spark?" Rogue's voice asked softly, seeing the clear distress on his face.

His eyes pushed away the twisted hatred and the sinking feeling that Magneto had something to do with this attack, and forced eagerness and the will to help in. "Lets go," he said confidently.

She quickly moved off to where he had pointed and started moving chunks of dry wall, repeating names.

"Gambit? Can ya hear me?" Rogue whipped around as she heard a large piece of debris move. For some reason her heart both sank and rose as she saw it was Ashen rising out of the dust, unfurling dirty wings that had been tainted with the soot.

"Hey there, girly. How ya feelin'?"

"Not too bad. Little sore, but it'll pass." She said as she cracked her neck.

"Can always count on your healin' factor, right?" Rogue smiled a bit again. But Aura saw the worry that lay behind her eyes. As Rogue saw the same in hers. "Go on and find Warren. He's gotta be up and about by now, and if he ain't he'll need your help."

Ashen started to walk off in the direction of where the door once stood. Rogue's quiet, pleading voice stopped her. "Find as many as ya can. Help 'em. Get 'em someplace safe. It ain't gonna be this quiet for long."

Rogue could still hear the deafening silence as the small fires that had broken out cracked around her. She knew that there was no point in squelching the outbursts because the mansion was doomed to be rebuilt yet again. She filled her head with her own voice, telling herself firm directions on what had to be done.

Rogue turned back and regained her search. Praying that she'd find Remy in one piece.


	6. Chapter 6: Burning Flames?

**Author's Notes**:Jake's powers are control of electromagnetic energy (basically electricity and lighting) and slight psychic ability on his mom's side. Hence why he was a bit of a spaz just before the bomb went off.

Aura's power is a high class healing factor that was off the charts when it showed up in her early years of life, and her others come from her father who, being a scientist of sorts, manipulated her DNA and gave her wings and super senses that allow for awesome battle and flying abilities.

Read and enjoy folks. :D

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Rogue didn't have a clue whether or not Gambit was still alive. She didn't have the slightest idea where he'd landed amongst the shattered walls, or what on Earth made him think that it was a good idea to charge a bunch of cards before evaluating the situation.

_I guess that's what comes from refusing to train with the team that he's assigned to. Idiot._ She thought angrily. It was very true that Rogue was tearing through rubble on a blind search, with only a hunch and her own determination to guide her. She didn't know why this was all happening, now, so closely after what had happened with Apocalypse.

But she did know that she wanted to get her hands on that Cajun more than anything.

Tears sprang into her eyes as she reached the cement floor. _To punch him, o' course. _She amended as her heart gave a slight twang at the thought of her hands on Gambit. _Be semi-professional, girl._ A cough caught her attention as it came just from her left. "Rogue," a weak voice rasped out from under the dusty cement.

"Remy?!" Rogue found herself slipping in and out of her comfort zone, also known as battle mode, as she tore the heavy blocks off of him in what seemed to take forever. Time stood still as she wrapped her arms around his torso and hauled him from the crushing mass. "Remy?! Can ya hear me?!" She didn't realize the panic in her voice until he winced and gave a slight grin.

"O' course, _chere_, no need to get scared." He said with his eyes closed. But the humor that made his mind dance with pleasure at the thought of her being concerned for him after the way that she had acted earlier in the night quickly vanished when he felt wetness rolling down his cheek. He knew that he wasn't crying. His own injuries were minor, a few scrapes and bruises. Was he bleeding? _Oh merde_, he thought, recalling that cranial injuries were the worst. But as he lifted his head to check for the sticky and messy blood that he thought would surely be coating the left side of his face, he felt a few more drops hit him from a higher height than the last, and splatter on impact.

He finally opened his eyes. And what he saw broke what little of a heart that he swore was left.

All his years training in the elaborate fighting styles, pick pocketing techniques, and scams that would initiate him to be a Thief had desensitized him to emotions of himself and the people around him. Working as a hired hand for Ole Buckethead had certainly carried on with the tradition. Remy finally realized that after the long and strenuous hours that Rogue had put aside for him to learn how to work in a team the way that real X-Men did and putting her through the harsh words, criticisms and stupid comments, he was an idiot. Rogue...Anna Marie, the girl that loomed over him now, truly did care for him.

His only question was if he could care back.

_"Petit_, Don' cry. I'm fine. Not'in' a few band aids cou'n't fix." He said giving her a weak smile. Why was his heart pushing against his chest? Why did it feel like it was about to burst at the sight of her beautiful face streaked with tears? Why- _Dammit, homme, get a hold o' yerself. Dis ain't no time fo' personal reflection. Dere be dead people out there._

"Rogue, where de others?"

"I was _not_ cryin'." She muttered quickly. Clearing her throat and straightening her back with great pride she said "Aura an' Jake have gone ahead to look for..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. _Survivors._ It was such a bleak and hopeless word in her home. Whenever the mansion was attacked, they always found almost everyone alive. But the people that made the number an 'almost' figure were the ones that made the living so bittersweet. It was easy to be detached when everyone was hurting. But when there was such an acute and brutal attack so close to home, it made going on with everyday thoughts, and everyday life so hard.

But they too had to join the search. Because right then, survivors were growing fewer by the moment.

Okay. so more details in the next chapter. read on:D


	7. Chapter 7:Reading leads to Heart Attacks

DISCLAIMER: Nope. Don't own X-men. Still.

Legion had wrecked the place. From what she could put together they had inside information. Which made it sting even more.

The mansion was designed to protect and be undetectable. No one but X-Men were supposed to know where it was, and very few non-X-Men did. But somehow they'd gotten security codes, access ports, and keys to unlock all the main frame systems, turning off the power, the lasers, and mostly the advantage.

They were smart. Rogue realized that as she traced the bomb's epicenter. Someone was a genius. They managed to rig the bomb to go off in a semi-circle blast. Damaging everything in front of them, but no one behind their lines.

Rogue sat in the med bay, head hung low, thinking of what she'd seen today. Two people were dead. She'd found Tabby and Evan herself. Her friends were dead or dying, lying around her, moaning in grief, screaming in pain.

And she couldn't do anything about it.

She smelled the brimstone. It was like the odor that Kurt gave off whenever he opened a port to bamf. One of them was a teleporter, she deduced by the residual reddish purple smoke left that was different than Kurt's blue fog. Another could control nature. The tree branch that had impaled Tabby didn't have any DNA on it, so it wasn't a bone branch off, like Evan's. This person wasn't shooting spikes, hoping to hit someone. They knew what they were doing as they impaled her, first in the stomach. Then...in the head.

Rogue pushed the image out of her head. She remembered becoming detached as she screamed for help and weeped over Tabby's dead body. Her breathe still shuddered upon ever inhale, and her heart lurched with every exhale.

She remembered they're faces, smiling at her. Laughing with the group. Flailing during Danger Room sessions. _The Danger Room..._ What if Xavier's supposedly well designed training systems weren't working the way that they were supposed to?

What if every failure was deserved and every victory was a fluke? What if he was setting them up for failure? And what if his dream was destined to die?

Gambit sat on the bed next to her as she felt the tears stinging her eyes. She truly believed in this dream of a peaceful co-existance. Rogue had seen it from all sides. She'd been a bystander, a participant, and a catalyst in it all. How could she not want anything other than a true peace when she'd seen all sides raging in one glorious psyche battle in her head.

Rogue broke. She started to cry. Tears finally flowed with grace and sobs choked her as she sat with her head in her hands in the med bay with gloom surrounding her.

Gambit didn't know what to do. For the second time that night he had witnessed a girl that he hardly knew morph into even more of a stranger. Rogue was always so strong, so tough on the outside, but with all of the recent events that battered her mind and forced her to accept a reality that she felt she was responsible for, her barriers were finally broken. And now she sat crying next to him, giving up all strength and resistance, and turning into someone who he didn't know what to do to help them.

Gambit was by nature a manipulator, but more so a people reader. He knew what people thought inwardly, what they would do, how they would react. But he couldn't ever predict that she'd do this.

And he wanted to badly to fix it. Listening to her sobs was breaking his heart.

So he did the only thing that he could think to do.

Rogue stiffened as Gambit wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She tried to wiggle away from him with no avail. Why was he doing this? Did he honestly think her so weak that she needed his pity?

Rogue wanted to scream. She wanted to hit, punch, kick. She wanted to be anywhere but there. In his arms. And mainly because it felt so right.

"Gambit, they're gone."

"I know, _chere_, I know."

"Why does this keep happening to us?! Why can't people just leave us alone?!" Rogue shouted, throwing a cup of Jell-O at the wall. The green mess that she had made hadn't helped relieve any anger.

"Because, Rogue. Dey know we're a threat. Dey know what we can do, all in the name of our cause. We be willin' t'fight fo' our dream, and dey know dat passion can't be taken away. Dat sort o'thin' ain't somethin' that's gonna quit afta bein' knocked down once o' twice. Rogue, its the people dat keep fightin' dat pose de most risk. Because dey won't go down wit out takin' some o' de bad guys with." He said, giving her an almost weak smile.

He wasn't expecting his words to help, but the smile on her face told him that they did stir something in her. "What'cha smilin' bout, _petit_, y'were blue a second 'go?"

"Its...ha. It's nothin'. Just..." She turned to him, meeting his eyes. There was some happiness there. "That's the first time you've included yaself in with the team. Ever."

"Y'wanna know somethin' weirder?" He asked, eyes darting to the floor with a look of embarassment. "It's de first time I ever felt it."

xXx

Rogue put her bags down in the hotel room. The underground dorms had been totaled and would have to be rebuilt as a part of the mansion's revamp. Xavier had explained to them the great need to carry on with life and such and such and blah blah blah. Rogue didn't want to hear any of it.

After Apocalypse, she vowed that she would never let someone take advantage of her again. She needed to get to the bottom of Legion and fast. She needed to take them out.

Unpacking her laptop, she started up the newest software, designed especially by Kitty to search both Google's databases and the governments. The blinking cursor told her to type. Begged her to type something so that it could fetch the information for her.

But Rogue's fingers were frozen over the keys. What would she find? She shook her head and rolled her shoulders._C'mon girl. Do this. Its for Tab and Evan. _

Search: mutant+Legion

The first article caught her eye. "Terrorist mutant training facility is linked to Biblical Demons!" Of course it was a tabloid, but as everyone learned from the Men in Black, they were the best place to start.

_June 26, 2007_

_Government sources say that the terrorist mutant training facility had portals, also known as ports to the insiders of the operation, that led into the deep pits of hell. "These ports can only be explained by the ripping of the time space continuum by a certain individual (i.e. mutants with the ability to 'teleport') leading into what is described as an 'underworld' type setting." The group who utilizes these portals call themselves Legion. We, at Fauder have managed to attain special profiles of this five member team. They are as follows..._

Rogue read on for at least an hour in the detailed descriptions of the formerly government employed group known as Legion. They were specially designed to take out any mutant resistance. Trask was quoted with saying "What better way to fight fire, than with fire?" _  
_

Were these people crazy? They took a 9 year old girl and mutated her beyond any recognition. She was pretty, judging by her picture, but there was no hiding the thousands of little probing scars that scattered her body. They took in a group of five and turned them into fighting machines. A group of siblings, the Corvaxs, were the main components of the group. Day, the ring leader, was apparently the bull goose looney. She was the teleporter and the leading combat expert. She was training all of the little underlings that served her. She was now sixteen, and she did not look it in the least. Her profile picture was that of a war torn veteran who had seen battle too many times, with eyes like Logan's, beaten but still willing to fight and inwardly bitter. Her code name was unknown, making it harder for further search, but from what Rogue could gather, she was hardcore.

Which made her an even bigger threat.

_Legion eh? This could be our hardest battle yet._

_  
_Further down the page was something that she never thought she'd see. Sitting in front of her were names of two of her own.

_Subject:9888734  
Name: Essex, Aurora  
Code name: Aura, also known as Ash  
Age: 14 at time of 'release'. In program system for 10 years.  
Mutation: A one Nathaniel Essex (father?) did own experimentation in private lab working for Project Gabriel. DNA sequence rerouted to envelope avian DNA, avian features (i.e. wings, hollow bones, air sacs) given to subject. Project Gabriel has since studied first mutation of the X gene and found that Omega Class healing factor. Cell regeneration unprescidented. Only in Weapon X's files was a recorded predecesor with Omega Class (Subject: Wolverine)._

Rogue swore she heard her heart stop. Aura was...Mr. Sinister's daughter?! Rogue shakily highlighted the passage and copied it into a blank document hidden behind the window of the search engine. This was a CIA database. How was it that an X-Man was somehow connected to one of their greatest enemies? It seemed that Sinister had had a plan behind everything within the X-Men's history, constantly scheming to take down Xavier. For what seemed to be no reason at all. It was as though Aura was another black pawn of Sinister's plotting against Xavier and his entire institution.

The paragraph just below added to her heart attack.

_Subject:9988789  
Name:Jiratto, Jacob  
Code name: Spark, (Sparkler?)  
Age: 17 at time of relase, in program of 6 years.  
Mutation: Control of electromagnetic fields. Subject was tested for metallic control, found to have limited and weak power. (Family geneolgy tested, found to be related to one Eric Lensherr (codename: Magneto; status: undocumented fugitive), as a nephew. Parents captured. Deceased within 3 days of program initiation. _

Was this some sort of sick joke? Rogue sat in silence for a long while after remembering that the CIA did not make jokes.

_What the hell was going on within this school?_


	8. Chapter 8: And Beer Leads to Comas

Sorry for any spelling mistakes guess. My computer's graphics programs all got deleted, so not only can I not see images in 4+ colors, but I can't play audio, video, or use spell check in firefox and my Word program is jacked up too! TTTT Just bear with me. I'll try to...erm...sound things out? xD

p.s. I _just_ found the line break button on the document editor! xD

* * *

DISCLAIMER: Don't own X-Men. 

Rogue drove down the road, hoping to find Gambit's car. Her cheap stick shift "ghetto-mobile" as Bobby liked to call it purred and whined as she forced it down the stretch of road in the middle of motel country. She was looking for the bike that would defenitley stand out among the ones of the locals.

She envied that bike. After memorizing every curve and knick in the pain, every detail to it, she was easily able to pick it out of the twenty other bikes parked in a side lot at a lit up dive that flashed "SCUZZY BUDDY" in pink neon letters.

_Remy would. _She thought, smiling inwardly. Turning her car in, she could see that she would stand out. It wasn't that she looked 19 or that they thought her to be a stranger in their small town, the bar keep was quite friendly, it was that she was the only one fully clothed. Her long tunic like shirt had a few tears in the seams, but nothing that was lethal to the large men sitting at either side of her at the bar. The studded belt that she sported gave hint to her hard edge, goth days as a teenager, and tight black jeans tipped with classic converse were a staple in her everyday wardrobe. She felt _nearly_ comfortable sitting at the bar. But nothing could stop people from wondering.

She was, after all, wearing black leather gloves in eighty degree summer heat. Rogue dropped her head and brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes as the bar keep asked if she wanted a drink. "Yes. After the week I've had...a Mike's would be great."

Not bothering to ask her age or for I.D., the guy handed her a Mike's Hard Lemonade and popped the top off for her expertly. "There ya go, little lady. Is your accent...Mississippi? You a down south girl?" He asked, politely smiling at her. "Why yes. Yes I am. Thanks so much." She gave him a confident wink and pointed to her drink. "I'll letcha know if I need another."

Rogue turned away from the bar and walked away. _Dammit Gambit, where the hell are ya?_

She picked up one of the pool ques that were just across the room, put her drink on the wooden ledge, and began a game with herself and a biker's wife. "So, hun, where ya from?"

"Mississippi originally. But right now I'm a student in the city." She said, lining up her shot.

"A Mississippi girl, eh? Girl like you came here alone?"

Rogue slammed the stick into the center of the pearly white ball infront of her, sinking two solid colored balls. "Well, sorta. I'm kinda meetin' someone here." She said, her confident look giving.

"Oh. Which one? Where is he? I can tell ya right now what he's up too, hun, I know every regular and hoodlum in this bar and they're all here tonight."

Rogue started to laugh. She hoped Gambit was not a regular at this place, because if he was, she wasn't sure she wanted to know what he did in his drunken spare time. "I hope that ya don't know him. He's 'bout six-three, brown hair, great body, usually wears a trench. He'll be drinkin' a Corona or a Genuine."

"Oh. You're with Hotshot, eh? He's been slammin' em in billiards for the past hour. We're startin' to think he's a mutant with pool powers." She said laughing. Rogue gave a weak smile. She prayed to God that the kid wasn't doing anything stupid.

"Where'd he go?" She asked.

"Said he had business to take care off out back. His bikes here though. Mack, the greasy guy behind the bar, is holdin' his keys. You wanna play or what, hun?" She said with an even bigger smile.

Rogue loved people like this. The ones that could tell she was different, who knew it the second that she walked into a room, and didn't give a damn. The people that could sit and talk to her like the human being that she was. And not just her for that matter, any mutant. These people were the ones that she fought for.

* * *

Gambit stumbled back inside. He wasn't drunk. He knew he wasn't quite there yet. But he wanted to be.

His life seemed to be spinning out of control. He was falling in love. He as apart of a team. And now he was bonding with his team mates. What the hell was wrong with him?!

Jean-Luc had taught him to be a Theif. Heartless, emotionless, uncaring, self-interested, and brutal. Had the X-Men honestly managed to break that training? In such a short amount of time he felt his heart coming back to life after being dead for so long and for some reason he wasn't willing to surpress it.

But now, he was bracing himself on a pool table, four away from where he watched Rogue play. His brain didn't process his thoughts right away. They were floating in and out, like words that he could just barely make out in the static.

_She's beautiful. I want her. I need her. I'm in love with her. You're drunk, homme. But I know I do. She missed. She's drinking. She's beautiful. I love her. _

"Je t'aime." He said, before pressing his lips against hers.

* * *

Rogue laid Gambit down in his hotel bed. After recruiting Jake to help her get him out of her car, into his room, and after his motorcycle that got left back that the Scuzzy Buddy, she sat on the edge of Gambit's bed listening for his breathing.

She cast a longing gaze back over her shoulder. "What the hell were ya thinkin', Cajun?" She shook her head and looked away from his beautiful face.

What the hell was wrong with him? He just took his sweet old time tripping over his own to feet, mumbling to himself, as he made his way over to her table. After lining up her shot and missing the sink, she stood to find him imposing and looming over her. The only clear words that she'd gotten out of him were "I love you" in slurred French.

And then his lips pressed against hers.

She didn't know if it sent the shock down her spine like she always read in novels. The first kiss was supposed to be long, tender, amazing. Nothing like what her kiss were and would always be. The second that his wonderful lips hit hers, the absorbtion began.

Everything was just a huge blur. The best way that she could possibly describe it was a drunken viewing of a soap opera in reverse. She could feel the alcohol pouring into his veins and the thoughts racing through his head. She could never grasp any of it until after he had let go of her and stop the flood of emotions and memories.

And the one thing that stood out in her mind was "I'm fallin' in love with her...No. I am in love with her." And then the maddening urge to drink.

Rogue took a deep breath and laid down on the opposite side of the bed where she tossed Gambit, not daring to look at his face. She didn't want to think. Didn't want to breathe. And most of all didn't want to acknowledge the burning in her cheeks, or the pounding of her head, and the lurching of her heart.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9: Hot Hot Heat

DISCLAIMER: No hope of me ever owning X-Men. :D

to everyone: thanks for the hits! this story is catching up to my other one:D

* * *

Rogue awoke to Gambit's arm draped around her waist. Her eyelids were heavy as she tried to regain her bearings. 

She remembered putting the Cajun into bed. She could remember hearing Jake drop his keys on the night stand so Gambit could drive it later. She remembered laying down underneath the covers, closing her eyes for just a moment, letting herself slip away for a few minutes.

And now waking up with Gambit's front pressed protrudingly into her back caused her eyes to jolt wide open. Rogue jolted up and ran into the bathroom.

Had he realized the danger that he'd put himself in? _No. O' course not. He was drunk. And in a partial coma state. _

So really she was the one who put him in danger.Why was she acting so stupid lately? Everything little thing that she did was putting those around her at risk. And all of those risks were slowly adding up. Tabby was gone. It still hadn't hit her. The girl that she had danced around with, kicked some ass with, talked forever with was now dead. And she wasn't coming back. Yet Rogue still expected her to come strolling through that door at anytime. Hand in hand with Evan. Their absences were clearly noticed. Students who had been close to them, like Amara, were now silent and solitary.Rogue felt tears come into her eyes.

"Dammit." She said, shaking them off.

She splashed cold water on her face and forced herself to wake up. She needed to tell Gambit about all of the information that she'd found on Project Gabriel. They were all in something deeper than they'd ever expected and two of their team members were acting as major veins of information for Legion, no doubt.

Rogue took her place back at the foot of Gambit's bed. She watched him sleeping, feeling a bit like a stalker or a creep, but her brain was refusing to let her take her green eyes off of him. Putting her hand on his back and giving it a slight rub, she attempted to wake him. "Gambit," She whispered loudly. Hangovers were never a nice thing to wake up too, especially when you had the additional headache of having your life force sucked out of you lingering about. "Gambit!" She said, louder this time. She gave him a hard shove.

Gambit reacted fast. Jolting up, he took hold of her wrist and used it to bend her arm at an impossible angle. Rogue's reaction time, almost as good as his, made her body fling swiftly away from him and around to face him, letting her land a hard punch to the cheek.

She had hoped that the Cajun would come to his senses faster than he was, as he dove quickly at her, tackling her just around the waist. Rogue braced her hands on his shoulders and tried to push him off from his pinning position, but instead had her wrists grabbed and tacked to either side of her head, unable to move, much like the rest of her body.

Panting from the sudden adreneline in her system, she glared up at him. "Would ya mind getting off, Swamp Rat?" She spat angrily.

"What de hell were y' doin'?!" He spat back, lips dangerously close to hers.

"Tryin' to wake your drunk ass up. Now that my job is done, you can give the predator act a rest and quite acting like your gonna devour me." Her eyes narrowed even more as anger poured into her heart. The rush of fear for him was proving to be harder to control. Rogue hated having such close contact with anyone. But with Gambit it was even worse. She'd already zapped him once. And she did _not_ want to do it again.

"Gambit. Get. Off." Her eyes widened as he smiled at her and brought his head closer.

"De last time we were like dis, y'were armed. 'T seems like I got de advantage now, _non, chere_?" He said, recalling their incident in the store parking lot where she had shoved a needle in him repeatedly.

"I'll show you advantage, ya pompous ass!" She said gritting her teeth and writhing beneath him.

Gambit's eyes filled with a different emotion. They were no longer blazing with the heat of anger and rage. Nor were they glaring at her with icy shards of revenge and malice. They were vacant and smoldering with something that looked dangerously close to lust. "Be best if y'would stop movin', _mon petite._ Y'might get results dat y'weren't expectin'." He growled.

Rogue could feel the energy around them sizzle. Her heart began to pound in a way that she had never felt before. Rogue had been attacked by terrorist organizations, kidnapped by madmen, and tortured in a small cell in a government base. But never had her heart pounded this way, producing flames that licked their way from her chest and out, making her fingertips tingle and her toes curl. "Swamp Rat, I ain't jokin'." She choked out in a strained voice.

Remy felt her heart pounding beneath him. His chest pressed to hers, legs tangled and hanging off of the edge of the bed. He knew that she was feeling the same undescribable way as he was. He wasn't a virgin. He knew what horny felt like. But this simply wasn't that. He wasn't antsy because he wanted to have sex, or wanting a quick release. He was _lusting_ after Rogue, the curvy and hard edged vixen that had managed to capture his heart.

"Neither am I, _chere_." He said, just before crushing his mouth to hers.

He was prepared to feel the awkward pain of having his energies drained. He knew what would be the consequence of this one moment where he simply couldn't control his desire. An quick black out would be looming on the horizon as the price of this wonderful kiss.

But he didn't feel anything. He didn't feel the violent pull on his mind, or the rapid drowning of his conscience. He quickly pulled away to look into Rogue's eyes and gauge her reaction.

His wonderful eyes, red on black, gazed back into hers. She could see her scared reflection in his onyx eyes and realized that she wasn't the least bit bothered. His lips felt amazing on top of hers. Was it bad that she wanted more?

Almost sensing her lack of hesitation or negativity, Gambit brought his head down gently for another kiss. This time he worked his mouth slowly over hers, savoring every moment that he got to touch her.

As his expert kiss brought out a reaction from Rogue, neither of them questioned how it was that they were able to feel each other's warmth for the first time in their span of knowing one another. She'd gotten hugs, but carefully planned, he'd gotten fights, but acutely choreographed. They'd been so careful not to touch that they had never really looked into what was behind the contact that they shared.

But now as they laid on a three star hotel bed, entwined and engulfed in the other's presence, they realized how wonderful it felt just to be able to lay their lips on the other's mouth to share a kiss without a toxic danger. Gambit's hands began to wander. Un-gloved and uncensored, he roamed about Rogue's body, all parts of a tan porcelain skin that were accessible to him. He grazed over her stomach, fingers teasing with feather light touches as her worked his way up. One hand cupped the back of her head, hair draped around his callous fingers, while the other found a resting place at her hip, where he couldn't deny the urge to pull her closer to him.

As their kissing became more passionate, the touching became more desperate. Rogue's hands locked around his neck and roamed up and down his back. She could feel her heart increase its pace, pounding harder and harder in her head until all she could hear was her ragged breathing.

What could this lead too? Rogue had to stop it before it got out of hand...but just after one more minute.

* * *

Aura sprinted down the halls, bangs and booms following her in echo form as the fight raged on downstairs. 

Ever since Legion's attack, everyone had been on edge. Emotion's were running high and tense because of deaths and injuries. But most of all there was a sense of hurt pride. They were the bloody X-Men and they couldn't feign off an attack long enough to get _everyone_ out safe. And now they were destroying the hotel lobby because Pietro was an idiot and pissed off Wolverine.

It appeared that old alliances died hard in this town, with Wanda and Pietro working with Piotr and John to beat on Wolverine and a few other of the X-Men who'd been team members for years. _Damn them all to hell. Of course they'd all bloody fight in public. Idiots. How the crapper are we supposed to take down a highly advanced and expertly trained combat team if we can even fucking restrain ourselves from KILLING on another?!_ She thought, searching for Gambit's room number.

An empath would be most useful at the moment.

1962...1964...1966! She didn't bother knocking. She'd stolen the key from Pete a full two hours ago, just in case she wanted to find Rogue. Jake had told her that "there'd been no answer from Rogue's hotel number, nor at Gambits, but he'd left her in there to go fetch the beautiful bike for her, so she'd most likely be in there."

She swiped the key and waited for the green light.

"Rogue?!" She shouted as she flung open the door. And her eyes landed on what had to be the most shocking sight of the week.


	10. Chapter 10: Disaster? Not Yet

sorry for the break guys! i wrote this in about an hour. i know it sucks, but i just needed to pound it out so that we could move on. since i'm leaving in a few days, i'm trying to get y'all to a cliff hanger point before i leave:D

just a quick update before i go on vacation : D

thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! How the previous magic that happened in the previous chapter happened will be explained soon:D

DISCLAIMER: Still don't own X-Men. /

note: Aura is age 20. Jake and Rogue are 19.Gambit is 21.Warren is 23.

* * *

"AH!?!?!" Aura screamed, and then shut the door. Panting, she tried to block the image that she had just seen out of her mind. Rogue...and Gambit...stuck together like two kids bathing in glue. "Where the bloody hell did that come from?!" She asked herself. A few days ago they were at each other's throats. 

"Rogue?!" She called through the door. "C'mon, everyone's tearing each other up downstairs! We need you guys!"

"What?!" Rogue opened the door, righting her hair. "What do ya mean?!"

"They're beating up on one another because Pietro is retarded." She said with a serious face. Aura took in the sight of her friend, looking frenzied and disheveled. There seemed to be nothing askew, no buttons undone, no stretched clothes, except for a slight bunching of her shirt on the side. She would ask questions later, because at the moment they were all in desperate need of veteran X-Men in the civil rumble going on downstairs.

* * *

Rogue sprinted with Gambit and Aura out of the elevator and into the lobby. Scott was laying unconscious on the ground with Jean tending to him, and the fighting was still going on. 

The-old-Brotherhood kids were hurling chairs and tables from the huge lobby to the far end, away from where Rogue and Gambit were standing, to hit the X-Men and the Acolytes. "What the hell is goin' on!?" Rogue screamed as she screeched to a halt on the beautiful black marble floors. It was like a game of dodge ball that was meant to kill. Rogue went and stood in the middle of the wall, right along the boundary lines of it all. She and the other two must have been off of the game's radar, because they weren't being targeted. Rogue sat down in a chair, feeling the lumpy cushion give under her wait.

"The only way to stop 'em is ta let 'em were themselves out. They can't last much longer." Rogue said sighingly. Only to narrowly avoid being hit in the head with shards of glass from an exploding vase.

Fuming, she jumped up. She put her hands on the side of the chair that she was just sitting in and let her instincts take over. _Where to throw it? Who at? I can't get the attention of one, the other will kill 'em! What the hell do I do?! _She felt her hands start to burn and tingle with a new sensation.

She didn't question it. She went with the flow. Her instincts were telling her to use her new power to her advantage. And it would be an end all for these nit-witted kids.

Gambit could see the chair start to glow red and fume pink as she took it down from over her head and set it on the floor. "ROGUE! What are you doing?!" Kitty screamed.

"THROW IT AT ZEM!" Kurt added.

Rogue scowled and shook her head. What was her team becoming? Ever since she had been appointed a team leader of the blue-squad, she'd felt like they were really starting to be a team. After the world nearly ended, the kids from the Brotherhood (or at least most of them), felt it in their best interests to join up with the X-Men. Rogue didn't question their personal motives or what they needed to gain from being in her team, she just knew that she would never run her team like Scott ran his. And she'd done a damn fine good job. Blue Squad was a democracy when it came to decisions. Wanda, Pyro, Bobby, Amara, and...Tabby... were all versions of themselves that suited the group oriented style of Rogue's leadership. She knew that each of them, so close to her in age, would probably not be up for a dictatorship, so she gave them power to control the way the team was run. But Rogue still knew how to command the respect and undivided attention of every X-Man in the building.

Rogue kicked the charged chair into the dead center of the room. She heard Gambit swear and shout "HIT 'DE DECK!" Apparently they listened. Rogue was the only one left standing after it exploded in a flurry of pinks, reds, purples, and flying wooden shrapnel with stuffing strewn about. She wasn't going to ask questions about how she got Gambit's powers without killing him at the moment.

"X-Men." She screamed at the Brotherhood side.

"Fall. In." At the Xavier's kids.

"All of you." At the floor.

* * *

Rogue waited for everyone to stand in front of her, powered down, calm, and listening. 

She couldn't believe the utter chaos that she just witnessed. The people that she had taken so much pride in training and fighting with were acting like they were fresh off the newb train. Untrained. No tact. Even less manners. They were worse than those Fantastic Four kids. She'd met Johnny Storm, knew how bad he was, and now she was forced to admit that her team was worse.

Taking a deep breath and raggedly letting it out she asked, "Anyone mind tellin' me what the _hell_ happened?"

Aura could hear the strain in her voice as she tried not to tear someone's head off. Rogue was so scary ever since she'd been put into the leadership position. When she got angry, she _got angry._ Aura thought that it was partially from being around Wolverine for so long.

When no one stepped forward to explain, Rogue cast a death glare that would have made her teenage self proud around the lines. Hands on her hips, she paced, waiting for someone to give her an answer. A minute passed. Then two, then five. And still not one of them had moved a muscle. The Brotherhood looked down trodened as they glanced angrily around the room, but cautious not to make eye contact with her. The Xavier's kids knew that they should be ashamed, and the looks on their face told everyone that they were.

"Kitty, thank you for volunteering." Rogue said, eyes landing spitefully on her old room mate. The young brunette glared at her. "Rogue..." She said almost warningly. "Don't make me do this."

Rogue was so very close to loosing her temper and simply killing them all. In addition to loosing two of her friends, the ones that stood before her now were all idiots. Rogue stopped in front of her to whisper,

"If ya didn't want to do _this_, Kit, y'all shouldn't have done _that._" She said motioning behind her to the mess that the lobby was.

"It was Pietro." Kitty blurted out. Quicksilver straightened from his slumping state to mutter, "Bitch!". Rogue sent him his own despising look and told him to shut it. "What about him?" She asked, turning back to Kitty.

"He was...he was talking about how he never liked Evan anyways. How he was thankful that he's...gone. Bobby told him to shut up. And he didn't. And...things just got out of hand. I'm sorry, Rogue. We never should have let it get this far." Kitty said, shaking her head. She too had the same sort of disappointment that Rogue had in her class. They were had become Xavier's dream. They were true X-Men.

Or so she thought.

Rogue knew that she would be forever hated for this, but it was what she had to do as a leader. With no referees at this school, the entire place would fall apart. Things were already horrible because Xavier and Ororo were missing in action and Logan hadn't been seen since the attack. The only one over the age of thirty left was Dr. McCoy, and he was not the headmaster type.

"I can't believe all of you. I ain't gonna preach. I ain't gonna lecture. I just want y'all to know that this is possibly the final moments of Xavier's dream. It just might have ended here with all of you."

Gambit knew what Rogue was talking about. He could tell that she wanted to scream at them, say a flurry of mean and hurtful things that all were true. He knew that because the X-Men had turned on themselves, with no one to sit there and guide them, they just might all be doomed. What would they do when their leaders were dead? When Xavier passed on, Magneto was killed, and their mentors were massacred because _they _couldn't get their act together? Gambit even found himself shaking his head.

He might not be a team player, but at least he knew what was proper team ettiuqite. If these kids knew it, they sure knew how to hide it well.

"Clean this up, please." She asked, sullen, before leaving the room.


	11. Chapter 11: True Disaster

DISCLAIMER: Don't own X-Men!

Sorry for the wait guys! Hopefully this will help get those juices flowing again!:D

* * *

Rogue sat in her hotel room trying to fight off the emotions that plagued her ever since she had sat down in this stupid building. She knew that loosing control would mean loosing her advantage. What exactly that was, she had no clue. Was is advantageous to have a storm of voices on the verge of rampaging through the various personalities that they held and therefore making you underling to the peers around you who could actually control what was going on in their minds? What the hell was going on in this place, and why the fuck did the world choose now to start collapsing around her?

She'd lost two X-Men, two friends, and parts of the school that she had taken so much pride in. The headmaster and teachers all decided to go for a vacation to God knew where. And to top it all of her mentor, Logan, the man who she'd be willing to bet her life on his judgment was missing. She had no one to turn to other than her fellow leaders, Scott and Jean. And they were being mournful lazy asses with no intention to make any managerial decisions on what to do with the teams.

Should they go on the offensive? Try to hunt them down, and take Legion out in one painful swipe? Should they wait and pray that the entire fiasco was over with, all the while forgetting to avenge their fallen team members. _Now Rogue, avenging is not the job of an X-Man._ She hated when Xavier's voice would randomly ring in her mind as she reflected back on the lessons that she had learned in her years at the institute.

What the hell should she do?

Now, to add to her distress, her powers were going out of whack. Gambit should have been dead. Four times over. That wonderful kiss that they had shared should have drained all of the life out of him and then some. But he was still walking. What the hell was going on around this place?

A knock at her door pulled her out of her near mental break down. "Rogue?" Aura voice sounded muffled as it tried to get through the solidity of the door. "Dr. McCoy says that he's ready for you. The suite's all set up."

Rogue had called Beast out from his vacation to help her. She needed to know what the hell was going on with her if she wanted to stay sane. It was bad enough that on a normal day she had no control over her powers. But to add to it they seemed to have a mind of their own as they chose who to absorb and who to spare. Rogue took the elevator up to the twentieth floor suite that they had set the lab up in. The makeshift med bay would due until the spare dorms were cleaned out and ready for use. She didn't bother knocking on the door. Aura had already set herself up on a couch, waiting for Rogue to show up. She was curious as to why she had witnessed Rogue making out with Gambit rather than giving him CPR. "Ah, Rogue!" Hank said, placing down a vial that he was inspecting. Strolling over from the far side of the room, he shook her hand. "Thank you so much for coming, Dr. McCoy. I could _really_ use your help." She said, on an exasperating sigh.

"Rogue, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Hank? You know that you're not a patient, but a friend!" He said, patting the back of her hand and guiding her to a bed that had a plethora of monitors and cables laying on it. "Now let's have a look shall we?"

Beast took over an hour and a half to do a CAT scan for abnormal activity, assessed different barriers of where her powers would start working and stop, examined different fronts of energy that she emitted while using them. Her powers would try to absorb anything that she touched it was just a matter of whether or not it had something _to_ absorb. Apparently the tests that involved her man handling a fuzzy pink gorilla plushy were inconclusive.

Beast shook his head as he pulled off his head phones. "There's just nothing that I can find that's different than normal. All of the tests that I performed on you here were identical to the ones that I did six months ago for check ups." Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. "Just what was it that you were doing when your powers had their short out?" He asked.

Rogue fought off a blush. "I-I'm not so sure that I should say." She said, casting a look to Aura. It was a dare for the pale girl to open her mouth. Aura smiled as she took it. "I think that I should go get Gambit." She hopped up off the couch and moseyed to the door.

Hank looked at Rogue. She could tell that he didn't know what to think of that last statement that was made. "Rogue?'

"Its nothing, Dr. McCoy. Really. Just….just the worst kinda slip up." She said, shaking her head.

"Rogue, I think it might give some clue as to what's been going on with your powers. It might be best that you tell me what…erm….heh. What happened exactly?"

"I really don't think that you want to know." She said, hanging her head in her hands.

Silence fell upon the room as Gambit and Aura walked back in. Gambit noticed that she looked like she was annoyed. He noticed the little line that formed between her brows. The way that her hair fell in front of her eyes as she cast her gaze downward towards the floor. It was as though she thought that she could find the answers lying within the elaborate and ornate rug that spanned the room. Almost like reading a book, he noted.

"Ahem. Doctor, I think that you have your cause of symptom." Aura said smiling.

Rogue glared at her as Gambit took a seat at the dining area's large table. Propping his feet up, crossing them one at a time, he asked, "What's up doc?"

"Hm. I'm not entirely sure, my boy."

"Aura, what the hell are you doing?" Rogue asked glaring at her.

"Helping you." She said with all seriousness. "Hanky, I think I know why your tests aren't working."

Aura went on to describe how she had stumbled upon them in a sweet embrace. How Rogue was clutching to Gambit as though he was saving her very life with one kiss, and how Gambit held her with such intense gentleness that Aura was forced to reevaluate the Cajun. The girl didn't leave _any_ details out. Rogue was disgusted by every word she said. Not because Aura was saying them with such a dramatic flourish, but that they were all true.

Rogue felt a flush creeping into her face.

When Aura finished her lovely little novel, Dr. McCoy sat with his fist under his chin, and equations running through his head. Rogue could see the variables flying through his head. It was making her go somewhat crazy watching him as he worked through the problem, thinking of all the possible options that could have happened. Rogue was resisting the urge to wiggle and fidget in her seat. She could admit that she was curious as to what he was thinking, what on Earth could have made Gambit be spared by her powers, but she also knew that she could live without knowing just as well. Either of the two were very likely to strain and stress her thoughts, that were already spread too thin.

"Rogue." Dr. McCoy said after a long time thinking. "I think that you need to explain how you were feeling when you were...erm…kissing Remy, here."

Rogue was certain that the flush that was creeping in had made a permanent home within the apples of her cheeks. _Damn them all ta hell and back!_

"I dunno. Happy?" Rogue heard Gambit snort from his prop against the wall. "Got somethin' ta say, Swamp Rat?" She asked, noticing her accent getting stronger.

"Yeah. _Mon cherie_, y'were more than happy t'be kissin' me."

Rogue snarled. "Yeah. Happy that I wasn't sappin' the life outta ya. At least that way I didn't have ta deal with all your greasy and perverted thoughts floatin' around in my head!"

"Ha. Whatever y'got t'tell y'self t'help sleep at night, _chere_." He said confidently flicking hair away from his face. Rogue angrily stood up and stormed over to him. She stood toe to toe, tilting her chin up, waiting for him to make the first move.

"Ya wanna take this outside, Gambit?!" She said angrily.

"T'd be my _pleasure_,_ petite_." He said sneering. Rogue saw his eyes flicker in Dr. McCoy's direction, and then the world went dim. In such a brief instant he had captured her face with his hands and was plunging her into a deep kiss.

It happened again. She wasn't killing him. Every memory that was racing through her head was her own. It was her own recollection of their last passionate encounter. Her own heart that she remembered pounding in her head. Her own light sigh that escaped as Remy broke away.

And her own anger filling her heart. "Who the hell do ya think you are?!" She gave him a push in the chest. "Just tryin' t'help,_ chere_."

"More like tryin' ta get yourself _killed!_ I ain't your _chere_, Remy. Never will be. Now, LEAVE ME ALONE!" Rogue said before she threw her hands, which had begun to burn with kinetic force, up and stormed out of the room.

Or at least tried to.

"Rogue. I've figured out what's happening." Rogue stopped dead in her track with eyes wide open.

* * *

Kitty could ignore the ugly glares that Pietro was sending her from across the room, even though they burned into her back like two of Wanda's hex bolts. She could deal with the snide remarks that started pouring out of Lance's mouth in the form of muttering nonsense that only an ex-girlfriend could understand.

She couldn't believe what was going on. Rogue had called her out to tell their embarrassing story and didn't give crap what it had done to her _own_ relations with her team members. It felt as though she was just implanted to the ending of Mean Girls, where everyone seemed to think that she was the one who pushed Regina George in front of that stupid bus. And now she had to attain for her sins.

As much as she respected Rogue as a team leader, she hated her in this moment. The girl could make anyone be able to work in a team, but she could also just as easily be the biggest and unforgiving bitch in all existence.

Kitty had noticed several things. Jean was not calming down. She kept looking over her shoulder as though someone was going to pop out of the shadows any moment now. Logan was no where to be found. He was the one who had started the god damn fight and now he had vanished into thin air. And that the rubble was not going to be cheap to replace.

Shaking her head she went back to work for a few minutes before she heard someone pushing their way through the blocked revolving door.

"Kitty! What the hell happened?!" Gabriel Anthony Houswerth, the third of the only three winged mutants on Xavier's attendance sheets, tripped over large chunks of cement.

"Gabe?!" She said, dropping her work and rushing over to him. She'd never admit to it, but the sight of his tall and lanky frame caused her heart to flutter and warmed her blood. After the adrenaline had flooded her veins with a cold current of nerves, his gray eyes looking into hers was the first thing in a long time to reverse it. She couldn't explain why she was attracted to him, or why he made her so nervous, but she did know that he did just that.

She nearly laughed when Lance perked up from his post and gave her the most concerned look ever when he saw the sparks that she was giving off.

Kitty wanted him to hug her, wanted him to make it all go away. But couldn't explain why it seemed like it would make her feel more empty than ever.

"It's a…long story." She said with an uncomfortable smile.

"Well you need to tell me about it! I went back to the mansion when the taxi driver dropped me off from the airport and half of it was gone! Luckily, I got a hold of Logan and he told me where you were all staying! What the hell has been going on around here! Honestly, I'm gone for one week…" He said, guiding her over to a private corner of the room.

Kitty retold her story for the first time. Explaining about Legion, the bombs, the fighting, the dissent. All of it was being poured out to Gabe, who looked a little stunned.

"Kitty…there's something that I need to tell you, I-" Gabe began before suddenly grabbing Kitty and sweeping her out of the way of tons of debris that was now flying through the air again.

"X-MEN! YOU DIE TODAY!" A girl's voice screamed after the loud explosion. "LEGION ATTAAAAACK!"

* * *

"What do you mean, Doc?" She asked without turning around. Rogue felt frozen. She was paralyzed in the spot where she stood, and couldn't feel anything but the sensation of her blood running cold with fear.

Had she lost her powers? Was she developing a secondary mutation? Could she control it? What the hell was this?

"Rogue. I'm afraid that what's going on has nothing to do with your powers and everything to do with Gambit's."

"What the hell are you talkin' about, Dr. McCoy?"

"Well….Rogue, its Gambit that is helping you touch him. I'm afraid that he'll be the only one that you can touch. Its…when Remy gets…aherm, excited to say the least, his own kinetic energies start to expand as a compensation. Because Gambit's brain had experienced the pain of being absorbed, instead of telling his nerves that he shouldn't want to ….make contact they say that they'll figure out a way around that pain. In essence it's as though his body puts up a force field of impenetrable kinetic energy that your powers absorb instead of his actual life force. And within that force field is where you absorb his powers."

Rogue sat in a state of shock. For some reason she felt disappointed. There had been a hope that she had started to control her powers, some bleak and fleeting light had been illuminated within her mind and was so quickly extinguished. "So…so its not me?" she asked, not wanting to hear the definite answer.

"I'm sorry, Rogue, I'm afraid that its not."

* * *

Amara crawled up the stairs desperately. Hoping for someone to come and find her. The elevators had been trashed. The flood lights were all turned on. She crawled for her life, praying that someone, Rogue, Gambit, Ashen, Angel, anyone would come along and save her.

She knew that Legion was close. Day, Nightmare, was latched onto her. All that Amara could think about was how the girl had eyes like the devil, and a soul to match. She remembered the way that she screamed that she'd have vengeance on Magma when the fireball that had been pulled from the ground had hit her square in the back, singeing off most of her hair that hit the small of her back. "YOU BITCH!" She could still hear the scream echoing in her mind. But what she could hear even more was the cackling that echoed through the stairwell.

Amara's arms were giving out. She knew that her leg was broken in at least two places, and that the opposite ankle would be swollen to an ungodly engorged size. But what she wasn't expecting was her arms to start shaking as she tried so hard not to cry and to focus on heaving her body up two stairs at a time, trying to get to the ninth floor, where Rogue would be. If she could make it to the ninth floor, she could scream. She could stand a chance if she made it to the ninth floor.

Amara wouldn't let herself stop at the sixth, where she was currently trying to work up the strength to pull herself the rest of the way up. If she stopped here, yelled out for help, she'd be putting innocent bystanders at risk. This girl, Nightmare, she was willing to kill her for cutting off her hair. Something told Amara that she wouldn't show mercy to a few good Samaritans who tried to help her.

"Oh. Where did you go, _mein_ cutiepie?" She said, with a disturbing cackle.. Amara could hear the sound of her teleporting, smell the sulfur. Who was this chick? Amara tried not to wimper as she heard the sound of "BAMF, BAMF, BAMF" getting closer and closer.

_Is this how Tabby felt?_ She wondered as her arms finally collapsed and Day's piercing red eyes came to fill her vision.

She was so close. She could taste…..smoke. Blades. Blood.

* * *

An ear shattering scream and hiccough filled Rogue's ears. "Amara." She heard herself whisper before sprinting out of the room. She didn't care about whatever it was that McCoy was jibbering on about, explaining to her in scientific terms that she didn't care about. She could only concentrate on finding Amara.

She knew it was Amara's scream. She could feel it. And feel her slipping away.

"No. I won't loose another." She gritted to herself, tears filling her eyes.

Another, quieter scream. "HELP!" And another wet hiccough.

Rogue rushed into the staircase, flew down the stairs. Her heart was pounding. Her breath was coming in gasps that were filled with the smell of brimstone, death, and burnt hair. She didn't know what drew her here but…..

She saw the blood on the landing wall. Then the body.

A single blade stuck out of it. With a flowing yellow ribbon that billowed with the breeze Rogue's sprint had caused in the narrow stairwell. _X-MEN SHALL DIE. ONE AT A TIME._

* * *

OOh. C'est tres scary non? it shall get even better in the next chapter. :D_  
_


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